Bobby Christ

Thanks so much! I was accepted to Temple University but waitlisted for funding, and Columbia offered a 20k scholarship. I figure worst case scenario I could probably get my GI Bill to cover the tuition for Temple if I don't end up getting funding, but it's not guaranteed. That's definitely one thing I've been told repeatedly, not to pay for an MFA. Honestly, if I don't get in anywhere with funding I have no problem rejecting the offers I have and applying again next cycle. I'm graduating from undergrad this semester so this is my first time applying to programs. I've also heard that academic institutions hold a grudge if you rescind an acceptance. My original plan was to wait until the end of next week to start negotiations, regardless of who I don't hear back from but that deadline might just have to move up a little.

Congrats on the Temple acceptance! Yeah, being waitlisted for funding is...awkward to say the least. Since I'm still waiting to receive answers from 8 schools I'm not sure if I should start trying to leverage funding between the 2. I'm also a vet, so there's funding options there, but the GI Bill still only covers less than half of Columbia's tuition. Also, does anyone know if the 15 April is a hard deadline? I've heard both things, that it's concrete and that it can be flexible if you're negotiating.

Hey everyone! I just stumbled onto this forum while obsessing about my MFA applications. I see that many of the schools I've applied to have already sent out acceptances so I'm assuming soft rejections. Has anyone here applied to Temple? So far I've received acceptances to Temple and Columbia for fiction, but I'm on the fence because of funding. Columbia offered me 20k but as I'm sure you're all aware, it's a drop in the bucket for tuition. Still waiting on a handful of other schools, here's to hoping for some answers. 2A/0W/4R/9P